Newscast - Africa

Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has urged his supporters to use any weapons they have to stop an advance by Tigrayan rebel forces.
Mr Abiy says it was the duty of citizens to, block, destroy and bury the forces of the TPLF rebels.
He issued the appeal on Facebook after the rebels said they'd made further territorial gains in the Amhara region, taking them closer to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.
A TPLF spokesman, Getachew Reda, says they had captured Kombolcha and that their only aim was to break a siege of Tigray.

Algeria Presidency says the country has stopped gas exports through a pipeline that crosses neighbouring Morocco because of a dispute between the two countries,
The presidency in a statement says due to Morocco’s hostile acts towards Algeria undermining national, unity the president has ordered the oil company Sonatrach to cut off trade relations with the Moroccan electricity company ONEE.
The Algerian authorities decided not to renew the gas contract, which ended on Sunday.
Sonatrach had announced it would keep supplying Spain with natural gas through the Medgaz pipeline only.

The Central Bank of Nigeria has unveiled selection criteria for private sector companies to participate in its new financial instrument tagged, “The 100 for 100 PPP – Policy on Production and Productivity.
The central bank explained that the selection criteria for participation would be premised on the business’ immediate contribution to economic growth, jobs creation, and social impact.
It pointed out that in selecting the companies, evidence-based, transparent and measurable criteria shall be deployed.
The central bank says the move was to ensure the operational framework for a robust and transparent process for identifying and selecting high-impact companies and projects under its 100 for 100 PPP.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, says that despite the challenges the country is currently facing, Nigerians should not lose hope as it remains a nation with great promises and a bright future.
Prof. Osinbajo urged Nigerians to speak positively about the country to stir up faith among citizens of its future.
The VP affirmed that he is completely convinced that the future of the nation is very bright indeed.
The VP further noted that despite the complexities of some national issues, God is the God of complex situations.

President Muhammadu Buhari on Sunday departed Abuja for Glasgow in Scotland where he will be attending the 26th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The President is scheduled to deliver his national statement at the High-Level Segment for Heads of State and Government at the conference on Tuesday, November 2.
President Buhari’s address is expected to highlight Nigeria’s key priorities and action to tackle climate change as well as progress on the country’s transition to a low carbon economy, consistent with achieving the Paris Climate Agreement.

Appzone Group, sub-Saharan Africa’s leading fintech software company has announced the launch of Zone, the continent’s first blockchain platform for payment processing that facilitates local and Intra-African payments in fiat and digital currencies.
CEO of Appzone Switch, Uche Elendu says Zone Switch represents the cashless and borderless future of payments in Africa adding that the platform will eliminate the systemic risk associated with centralized payment systems while delivering the uptime and throughput required in a truly cashless society.’
He says the team at Appzone Switch are looking to evolve the platform’s digital token for settlement into a stable Pan-African digital currency that is fully compliant, approved by Central Banks, and backed by a basket of fiat currencies in Africa.

US drugmaker Merck has announced a deal that could see generic versions of its experimental oral COVID-19 treatment for people infected with the disease widely distributed in poorer countries.
The global Medicines Patent Pool which is backed by the United Nations, says it had signed a voluntary licensing agreement with Merck to facilitate affordable worldwide access for its antiviral medicine molnupiravir.
Merck and MPP in a statement saying this is the first transparent, public health-driven voluntary license for a COVID-19 medical technology.

The European Union’s top court has ordered Poland to pay 1 million euros a day over the country’s longstanding dispute with the bloc over judicial independence.
The ruling by the Court of Justice came after the EU’s executive commission asked for financial penalties to ensure compliance with a ruling from July.
Poland has been embroiled in a long-running dispute with Brussels over judicial reforms it says undermine the independence of courts.
The row heated up in July when the Court of Justice ordered the country to suspend the controversial disciplinary chamber of its top court.
The court says the penalty was necessary in order to avoid serious and irreparable harm to the legal order of the European Union and to the values on which that Union is founded, in particular, that of the rule of law.

China says that Taiwan has no right to join the United Nations, a day after the United States voiced support for the island’s meaningful participation at the organisation.
The back-and-forth comes days after Taiwanese officials spoke with US officials about Taiwan’s desire to have a role at the UN.
Taiwan had held the Chinese seat at the organisation until October 25, 1971, when it was voted out as representative of the country in favour of the People’s Republic of China, which won the civil war in 1949 and forced the republican government to flee to the island.

Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg announced the parent company’s name is being changed to “Meta” to represent a future beyond just its troubled social network.
The new handle comes as the social media giant tries to fend off one of its worst crises yet and pivot to its ambitions for the metaverse virtual reality version of the internet that the tech giant sees as the future.
Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp will keep their names under the rebranding.
Zuckerberg says they have learned a lot from struggling with social issues and living under closed platforms, and now it is time to take everything that they have learned and help build the next chapter.